Acharnae or Acharnai (; ) was a ''

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...

'' of ancient

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. It was part of the

phyle ''Phyle'' (, ; pl. ''phylai'', ; derived from Greek , ''phyesthai'' ) is an ancient Greek term for tribe or clan. Members of the same ''phyle'' were known as ''symphyletai'' () meaning 'fellow tribesmen'. During the late 6th century BC, Cleist ...

Oineis ''Phyle'' (, ; pl. ''phylai'', ; derived from Greek , ''phyesthai'' ) is an ancient Greek term for tribe or clan. Members of the same ''phyle'' were known as ''symphyletai'' () meaning 'fellow tribesmen'. During the late 6th century BC, Cleisthe ...

. Acharnae, according to

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

, was the largest deme in Attica. In the fourth century BCE, 22 of the 500 members of the Athenian council came from Acharnae, more than from any other deme.

Name

The place-name of Acharnae is most likely

pre-Greek The pre-Greek substrate (or substratum) consists of the unknown pre-Greek language or languages (either Pre-Indo-European or other Indo-European languages) spoken in prehistoric Greece prior to the emergence of the Proto-Greek language in the r ...

in origin, similar to other place-names throughout Attica. During antiquity it was believed that the name originated from the word () or (), meaning seabass, due to the shape of the plain that Acharnae was in looking like a fish. Another view was that the name originated from Acharnas, one of the mythical heroes from Attica and the supposed founder of the city.

Location

Acharnae was located in the west-northwest part of the Attic plain, 60 stadia north of Athens, south of

Mount Parnes Mount Parnitha (, , Katharevousa and ''Parnis''/''Parnes''; sometimes Parnetha) is a lightly forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica, with an elevation of 1,413 m, and a summit known as Karavola (Καρα� ...

. The site of Acharnae is located at and southwest of Menidi (renamed to modern

Acharnes Acharnes, also known as Menidi is a municipality in the East Attica regional unit in Greece. With 108,169 inhabitants (2021 census), it is the ninth most populous municipality in Greece. It lies just north of the Athens urban area. Geography T ...

). It was from the woods of this mountain that the Acharnians were enabled to carry on that traffic in charcoal for which they were noted among the Athenians. Their land was fertile; their population was rough and warlike; and they furnished at the commencement of the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

3,000

hoplites Hoplites ( ) ( ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldi ...

, or a tenth of the whole infantry of the republic. They possessed sanctuaries or altars of Apollo Aguieus, of

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

, of Athena Hygieia, of Athena Hippia, of Dionysus Melpomenus, and of Dionysus Cissus, so called, because the Acharnians said that the ivy first grew in this deme. One of the plays of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

bears the name of the Acharnians.

History

The oldest confirmed evidence of permanent inhabitation in the area dates from the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. During the

Mycenaean period Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainla ...

in the Greek Bronze Age the area was continuously inhabited. Near the neighbourhood of Lykopetra a Mycenaean

tholos tomb A beehive tomb, also known as a tholos tomb (plural tholoi; from , ''tholotoi táphoi'', "domed tomb(s)"), is a burial structure characterized by its false dome created by corbelling, the superposition of successively smaller rings of mudb ...

has been discovered, while traces of another Bronze Age tomb have been found in the area today called Nemesis. Many archaeological reports claim several tomb excavations across the entirety of the area, which all point to the possibility of Acharnae possibly being a politically independent region during the period. The largest amount of archaeological evidence dates from the Classical and Hellenistic periods (5th - 2nd centuries BCE). It consists mostly of graveyards found throughout the entire area, parts of the ancient deme's road network, as well as parts of hydraulic infrastructure from the 4th century BCE. A lot of information is given about the public and private life of the locals during the period by the remnants of the road networks. In the first phase of the

the

Lacedaemonian Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

(Spartan) army invaded the Athenian home-region of

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

under the command of king

Archidamos II Archidamus II ( ; died 427/6 BC) was a king of Sparta who reigned from approximately 469/8 BC to 427/6 BC. His father was Zeuxidamus (called Cyniscos by many Spartans). Zeuxidamus married and had a son, Archidamus. However, Zeuxidamus di ...

, advancing up to Acharnae as the statesman

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

gathered the citizens of Attica inside the walls of

. The Spartan army ravaged the deme and its forestry, setting a series of camps within it, hoping to draw out the Athenians to a pitched battle where the Spartans would have the upper hand. The total destruction of Acharnae and the abandonment of the temple of Ares, a sanctuary of great importance in the deme, led to the warlike depiction of its citizens. Notably,

depicted the Acharnians in his work

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

as violent raiders. According to Thucydides the deme offered an army of 3,000 hoplites, 1/10 of the total Athenian army, although this information is believed by historians to be mistaken - there was an analogy of 42 free citizens for every politician of a deme according to the Athenian constitution, thus the number of hoplites Acharnae could offer was only 1,000. In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian war and during the Athenian civil war, a large battle was commenced in the area between the democratic rebels of

Thrasybulus Thrasybulus (; ; 440 – 388 BC) was an Athenian general and democratic leader. In 411 BC, in the wake of an oligarchic coup at Athens, the pro-democracy sailors at Samos elected him as a general, making him a primary leader of the ultimat ...

and the forces of the

Thirty Tyrants The Thirty Tyrants (, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were an oligarchy that briefly ruled Classical Athens, Athens from 404 BC, 404 BCE to 403 BC, 403 BCE. Installed into power by the Sparta, Spartans after the Athenian surrender in the Peloponnesian ...

imposed by Sparta. Thrasybulus clashed with all the city's Spartan guard with a force of only 700 men and 2 cavalry divisions attempting to cut off supplies. The battle was victorious for the democrats, who drove away the enemy and slew about 120 of them.

Economy

The Acharnians chiefly grew

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

s, and

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

s. Acharnae was the centre of the Athenian charcoal-burning industry, and the chorus of

' comedy ''

The Acharnians ''The Acharnians'' or ''Acharnians'' (Ancient Greek: ''Akharneîs''; Attic: ) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BC on behalf of the young dram ...

'' is made up of charcoal-burners.

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

characterizes them as notably brave. A

at Menidi suggests Acharnae was once an independent entity; a temple to

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

was later moved to the

Athenian Agora The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is an ancient Greek agora. It is located to the northwest of the Acropolis of Athens, Acropolis, and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill k ...

. Donkeys from Acharnae were noted for their large size, perhaps in humor.

Peisander Peisander (; ) of Camirus in Rhodes, Ancient Greek epic poet, supposed to have flourished about 640 BC. Biography Peisander was the author of a ''Heracleia'' (Ἡράκλεια), in which he introduced a new conception of the hero Heracles' cost ...

the oligarch (), a native of the ''deme'', was nicknamed ("donkey") for at least that reason.

References

External links